BREXIT: NO NEW VOTE ON DEAL UNLESS MAY CAN WIN
says Chancellor Hammond
THERESA May could scrap a planned Commons vote on her Brexit deal tomorrow unless she can be sure of winning, Cabinet ministers said yesterday.
Chancellor Philip Hammond and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox both cast doubt on whether the expected third “meaningful vote” to approve her EU Withdrawal Agreement will go ahead before a summit of EU leaders at the end of the week.
Their warning follows concerns that not enough Tory Brexiteers are ready to switch sides to support the deal to avoid a lengthy postponement of the departure date. Support
Mr Hammond yesterday claimed a “significant” number of Tory MPs who opposed the package in a Commons vote last week were considering changing their position, but conceded the vote might “not definitely” happen this week.
He said yesterday: “We will only bring the deal back if we are confident that enough of our colleagues and the DUP are prepared to support it so that we can get it through Parliament.
“We are not just going to keep presenting it if we haven’t moved the dial.
“But what has happened since last Tuesday is that a significant number of colleagues, including some very prominent ones who have gone public, have changed their view on this and decided that the alternatives are so unpalatable to them that they, on reflection, think that the Prime Minister’s deal is the best way to deliver Brexit.” He acknowledged the numbers were not there yet and that it was a “work in progress”.
Mr Hammond added: “Clearly, if we don’t get this deal through we are almost certainly going to have to fight a European parliamentary election, almost certainly going to have a longer extension, almost certainly not going to be able to gain access to the fiscal headroom I talked about in the spring statement.” Dr Fox also admitted the Commons vote may not go ahead tomorrow.
The InternationalTrade Secretary said: “That would be determined
by whether we can succeed in getting that vote through the House of Commons.”
Dr Fox admitted it would be “difficult to justify having a vote if you knew we were going to lose it”.
He added: “I would say to my colleagues all actions have consequences, and if you really want to deliver the Brexit we all promised, if we actually want to do that then we need to back the Prime Minister’s deal because there is no other deal on offer.”
Rejected
Senior backbenchers including Jacob Rees-Mogg are under intense pressure from Tory colleagues to back the deal that has twice been rejected by the Commons.
Some rebels were yesterday understood to be demanding that Mrs May offers to quit in the summer as their price for supporting her deal.
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage yesterday urged Eurosceptic Tories to stand firm in their opposition to the deal.
He said: “I would urge all proBrexit MPs across the House of Commons to hold their nerve this week and do the right thing by rejecting the deal.”